The dangerous glorification of war

Wars don’t have winners

Pakistan and India need to focus on ending their internal problems such as poverty, unemployment and corruption and stop with the meaningless hatred because it is not going to benefit anyone

Amidst the meaningless war rhetoric being presented by certain elements in both Pakistan and India, sanity seems to be drifting away. The media on both sides of the border is glorifying war as if it is going to solve every problem of the two countries. Wars do not have winners; there are only victims – victims on both sides who lose their lives because of the mountain-high egos of their leaders, who refuse to show maturity even after losing so much to hatred.

No one seem to care about the fact that both Pakistan and India have huge a percentage of population living below the poverty line and a large number of people in the two countries do not even have access to basic necessities. Those wanting war, knowing half the population is living in miserable conditions, are delusional at best. Both the countries have their internal problems that make the common man suffer, but the countries spend a staggering amount on their annual defence budget. For countries where a huge number of people do not have food to eat and a place to sleep, such high military expenses have irony written all over them.

Pakistan and India need to focus on ending their internal problems such as poverty, unemployment and corruption and stop with the meaningless hatred because it is not going to benefit anyone. The war mongers on both sides who are misguiding the people into anarchy should be shown the horrifying pictures from Hiroshima and Nagasaki. When a war happens, the ultimate losers are the people on both sides.

A United Nations (UN) report in 2011 said India’s poverty levels are higher than Pakistan’s and also found greater ‘gender equality’ in conservative Pakistan than in ‘tolerant’ India.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi should focus on making things better for the common man in his country and know that showing aggression in such circumstances will only harm his economic agenda. Other stakeholders in India who claim to be ‘secular’ should also play a responsible role and try to discourage elements who are fueling hatred. Pakistan-born Indian actor Adnan Sami, who recently got Indian citizenship, took to twitter and congratulated the Indian PM and armed forces on ‘brilliant, successful, mature strategic strike’ against Pakistan. In another tweet, he said the outburst by Pakistanis over his previous tweet means they see Pakistan and terrorism as the same. This coming from a renowned celebrity, who achieved fame in Pakistan, is both sad and shameful. Indian celebrities and political leaders should stop misleading their people into anarchy. The sane elements in India (and thank God they exist) should not let hatred overrule sanity and common sense.

In India, election campaigns are based on anti-Pakistan sentiments and the contestants fall over each other to prove they hate Pakistan more. Contrary to this, Pakistan’s election campaigns focus on internal problems like corruption, load shedding — this despite the fact that India is considered a ‘tolerant’ state while Pakistan is seen by the world as a conservative country with narrow-minded people.

When Indian leaders allege that Pakistanis support terrorists, they should not forget that Indian prime minister is the one accused of killing thousands of people during his term as chief minister in Gujrat province of India. Yes there are extremist elements in Pakistan that justify the actions of terrorists and have been supporting terrorism, but Pakistanis have never voted a religious extremist into power. There are politicians in Pakistan that run their campaigns on basis of hatred against other religions and sects, but hardly any of them have been able to come into power in all these years. Pakistan has its fair share of problems when it comes to intolerance and radicalism, but this should not be a reason to ignore how a lot of Pakistanis have shown bravery and resilience in the face of terror. India cannot deny the fact that there are people in Pakistan who have shown remarkable bravery by risking their lives while standing up to terror, and continue to fight back.

India needs to understand that Pakistan is a victim of terrorism and its people are the ones most affected by the menace.

People like Hafiz Saeed of Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD) whose political campaigns revolve around hatred against India have not even been able to secure even a single seat in the parliament till date.

The government of Pakistan, despite being led by a right-wing party Pakistan Muslim League –N (PML-N), has always tried to maintain good relations with India. The Nawaz government is also criticised by opponents at home for not responding to the threats of Indian PM appropriately, but this type of maturity shows that the PML-N has at least learned something from its previous tenures in power. Pakistan government’s inefficiency apart, its approach towards dealing with Indian aggression has been very balanced. The opposition parties should also be mature enough to understand that foreign policy cannot be based on sentiments and ground realities cannot be ignored. The fact is that neither India nor Pakistan can afford to go on a war, and even the provocative statements by the countries’ leaders will harm the process of economic progress which both governments claim is their priority.

“India wants to improve its ranking at World Economic Forum and it will only be possible if they stop with these provocative statements and focus on development”, said economist Salman Shah, while talking to DNA.

“War will harm the stability of both India and Pakistan, and it should not even be considered an option”, he said. Salman said the impact of war will be that the investment in both countries will go down and added that India has more to lose in case of a war.

Salman further said both countries need to realise that dialogue is the only solution to all the mess.

“There are 700 million people in India and 58 percent in Pakistan living below the poverty line so the common man in both countries needs peace” researcher Qamar Cheema told DNA. The public needs peace and good economic condition for better survival, he added.

He said Indian PM Modi got support from his party in his recent address to the workers in Kerala and after that India showed aggression on LOC and named it surgical strike. The action was backed and supported by an all parties’ conference.

There are 700 million people in India and 58 percent in Pakistan living below the poverty line so the common man in both countries needs peace

“In case of a military attack, Pakistan must respond with full force but at the same time Pakistan needs to be careful and calculated. War is not solution we must build diplomatic pressure over India for its aggression on LOC” he said.

War never has a winner. Both the sides lose along with their people and it takes ages to recover.